


It’s Always Been Just Us

by bumblebee_rose



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: F/M, Fun sledding and family time and hot coco, Long intro I’m sorry, Mundane types of things, No angst!, they’re going to be just fine, wild ik, yet current day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 06:20:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17116070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bumblebee_rose/pseuds/bumblebee_rose
Summary: “You know that I love you.” He says, meeting her eyes and there’s no hesitation in the words he says.“Of course.” She replies, because she does, it’s one of the only things she absolutely knows for sure.OrTwenty one years of knowing one another doesn’t just go down the drain. Love has never been something they’ve had any trouble with.





	It’s Always Been Just Us

She knows he still loves her, knows it every morning when she wakes up, knows it every night before she goes to bed. 

Then again she still loves him too, doesn’t think it would be possible for her to stop, for either of them to stop putting out the love they’ve given in abundance since they were kids. They were unequal to any other in that way, she doesn’t think she could never really love anyone the way she loves him. 

****

 

People like to say that they are halves of one whole, two souls that make up one beating heart but she knows better. They are simply two people who would let the other take the oxygen from their own chest. They mean multitudes to each other, rivers too wide and mountains too high be damned, she would span continents for him any day. 

He still pays attention to her coffee order like it’s the most important thing he could ever know, because her order may change but his kindness to her will never. He remembers 21 years later that during December she likes the Christmas drinks that taste like gingerbread and candy, and that she doesn’t like the cardboard coffee sleeves because they cover the designs on the cup and he always, _always_ will ask the barista to draw two hearts and a smiley face on the side because she lets let a grin crack through her cold morning exterior and he has this thing where he needs to see her happy in the mornings. 

He will carry her burning hot drink with no cardboard sleeve all the way to her and his fingers will dance on the side of the cup because the heat seeps through the paper cup so easily, but he will do it to see her smile, and, she thinks, she would do the absolute same for him. She does in fact. 

He really likes iced tea, the unsweetened kind which makes her head spin because she can’t fathom why anybody would want cold bitter tea, but he likes it and she supposes it’s enough. He likes it almost freezing to where it stings the back of your throat because it’s so cold, so she puts tall glasses in her freezer to make them cool. The glass is usually ice cold to the point where her fingers burn when she takes the glass out of the freezer but he has this immunity to cold. He never wears gloves at the rink and his hands are always warm, he used to joke that he had a furnace where his heart was supposed to be but she knows better because she’s felt his heartbeat against her cheek and felt his love in full force, his heart is perfectly present in every way. 

She always warms the rim of the glass with a cloth because his lips get cold faster than the rest of him does and he presses them to her cheek far too often for them to be freezing. She’ll carry an icy cup to him and her fingers will dance on the side of the glass because it’s so cold, but she does it anyways. She has his love to keep her from freezing over, he would never let her fingertips turn bright red and if they did he would kiss each one and press them to the soft fabric of his pullover. 

It’s things like this that they use to reassure each other that love between them is unchanging. 

She knows he still loves her because he hasn’t let his care for her diminish in any way. 

On planes he still holds her hand and lets her slump against the slope of his chest. In cars he still opens the door for her and lets her climb in first. because the harsh winter air bites at her exposed skin and his coat is thicker anyways. 

He still shows up to her house with lilies wrapped in cellophane and warm pastries that melt in her mouth. He still meets her for breakfast on Saturday mornings, her lipstick smudged on his cheek when she kisses him hello and his hands leaving their touch on her lower back. 

She doesn’t think there is anything that could keep them from loving each other. 

*****

“I don’t see how this is fair.” he says, pulling her on a red plastic sled behind him down the snow covered streets. 

“It’s not,” she replies, tipping her face up to the sky, and letting the last bit of sun warm her nose. “but you agreed to it so I guess you’re stuck pulling me along, at least I carry my own weight on the ice.” She says, cocking her head to the side. 

“Wow thanks.” He draws out in fake annoyance, but she can hear the smile behind his words. “I guess it really is the least you could do, the French could take a page out of your book.” He says, turning around just slightly to look at her, and she can see one of his eyebrows raised just below the bottom of his toque. 

“Not nice.” She teases, flicking show at his back. “We are gracious and humble gold medalists, Canada’s sweethearts.” 

“Are we now?” He jokes “Let them see this: poor Scott Moir forced to drag Tessa Virtue through the snow on his day off. I’ll alert the press as soon as we get back.” 

“Nobody forced you to bring every sled in your parents house down from the attic,” She counters, shaking her head, “that was completely your idea.” she argues, laughing.

“How often do we go sledding?” He asks “When was the last time we had an entire day to blow? Or the last time the hill actually had enough snow? Fifteen years ago? It’s been too long.” He reasons 

“It has.” She agrees 

“And if I had to do a bit of heavy bargaining to get you to come with me,” he says, accentuating his words “then that’s just the price I pay.” He finishes, shrugging his shoulders. 

“How’s J?” She asks, because she’s a good friend, his best friend. 

“Fine.” He says, like always. “She’s lucky her plane got out when it did, there have been delays all week.” 

“Yeah.” She agrees, picking at her freshly manicured nails. 

“You know that I love you.” He says, meeting her eyes and there’s no hesitation in the words he says. 

“Of course.” She replies, because she does, it’s one of the only things she absolutely knows for sure.

“Then that’s all that matters.” He says, glancing back at her once before bursting into a sprint, making her shriek with laughter behind him as the sled goes barreling over the packed snow. 

His boots flick snow at her face and her hair is whipping behind her, and the cold air stings on her skin, but it all fades to nothing when she hears him laugh and watches as he doubles over only a small distance from the park. He drags her the rest of the way, tripping over his own feet and halfway bent over because he can’t stop laughing. 

“I thought you died back there at one point.” He howls, dropping the ropes that attached to the sled behind him. “You probably disturbed half the town with all that yelling.”

“And whose fault is that?” She laughs, grabbing onto his gloved hands and letting him pull her up with a grunt. “Too heavy to lift? It’s been what? A month? Don’t tell me I’ve let myself go that much already.” She jokes, her nose inches away from his. 

“You?” He asks, eyes twinkling “Never. You’re the-”

She cuts him off then when she sees his eyebrows are caked in white. “How did you manage to get snow in both your eyebrows?” She laughs, pulling off one of her mitts to brush away the snow with her bare fingers. “You look like Jack Frost.” She smiles, letting her hand trace down the side of his face. 

That’s another thing that hasn’t changed- their intimacy with each other. They still live in the others hand, photosynthesising like plants off tough rather than sunlight. He still holds her around the waist and leaves kisses on her cheeks. Their love language has always been touch and not everything in life can be flipped on its head as easily as a coin. She knows his body better than anyone else’s, it would be a shame to stop exploring now. 

 

He trudges through the snow and she steps into the footprints he leaves behind, her feet slotting perfectly into the craters his boots make in the soft white. Anyone else walking by later would only see one set of steps, a journey made alone, and she understands why, though, she thinks, she’s never really had to go on any great adventures by herself. They’ve always been together, somewhere along the way their wavering paths just became one and they haven’t split apart since. You could trace their cookie crumb trail for miles and only find evidence of one single soul because, she thinks, soulmates exist and he has always been hers. They have walked every bit of this journey together. 

 

The “hill” is less of an actual hill, and more of a downhill walking trail that becomes impossible to hike on once it snows enough, and turns into a sledding path. It’s not even that big either, elementary school age kids might find it daunting but at 29 she doesn’t find it as scary as she once did. It’s still fun though, and the walk back up still makes her knees shake and her thighs burn. 

“It looks smaller.” He says, tilting his head to the side, and voicing her thoughts. 

“Maybe you’re bigger.” She suggests, turning to look at him and shrugging her shoulders. 

“Maybe.” He replies, his voice soft, grabbing her hand and pressing his palm against hers through layers of wool. “You slid straight into that once,” He remarks, pointing at a crooked tree by the end of the slope, “got a bloody nose and everything, the only way mom could get you to stop crying was chocolate.” He laughs 

Another thing that hasn’t changed, their history. She still grew up by his side and he still grew up by hers. Twenty one years of growing doesn’t make for nothing. They have memories tucked into every single corner, the fence she accidentally drove into when he used to give her driving lessons, the monkey bars he got stuck on top of when she dared him to climb them, the convenience store on the corner that they would spend all their extra quarters on in the summer. Too many things belong to their collective memory for them to forget. 

 

“I dare you to go backwards.” she says, a glint in her eye. 

“Funny,” He says “cause you've always been good at that.”

She rolls her eyes and kicks the sled “You gonna do it or not?” She asks 

“Dare is on.” He smiles, setting the sled at the edge of the cliff and sitting at the very front. It’s when he begins to tip backwards that she thinks it isn’t so good of an idea because they have things to do that can’t really allow him to be in a full body cast but by then he’s already halfway over and she can’t do much to stop him at that point. 

He slides all the way to the bottom, perfectly safe, and without a scratch. She could see the grin on his face the whole time, his eyes never once leaving hers as he flew backwards. 

“Did it, Virtch!” He yells from the bottom, swatting snow off his pants and fixing his toque. 

“I never doubted you!” She yells back, which is met with a smile on his part as he climbs back up the hill dragging the sled behind him. 

She meets him near the top by throwing a snowball right at him which he dodges, and looks back at, before running the rest of the way up, wrapping her into his arms, and wrestling her to the ground. 

She’s sure the whole neighbourhood can hear her shrieks of laughter as he pins her underneath his weight, but she quite honestly doesn’t care. He’s straddling her waist, with his hands keeping her wrists down beside her head and his cheeks are bright pink and they’re both giggling and catching their breaths, with their faces only inches apart as they lay in the snow. 

She puckers her lips at him and raises her chin up which makes him let go of her wrists and fall back in surprise and she uses that to gain advantage on him and flip them over. 

“That’s cheating!” He whines

“All is fair in love and war.” She smirks and he rolls his eyes at her before raising his head to kiss her once on the bridge of her nose. She doesn’t flinch or pull back at all, he’s kissed her in much dangerous places during much more complicated situations. 

Cautious intimacy is something they’ve mastered.

 

“If you get off, I’ll let you ride with me.” He says, wiggling his eyebrows. 

“I don’t think that sled is meant for two full grown adults” 

“Worth a try.” He shrugs, standing up and wiping snow off the back of his coat once she releases him. 

He sits at the very back end with his legs along the sides and pats the open space in front of him with a cheesy smile on his face, which does absolutely nothing to help her resist him. She says screw it in the end though because it may not be the best idea but it’s not their worst. 

 

The hard plastic is unforgiving on her sore hip and her knees are resting on the tops of his shins, her back pressed into his front. Every time he breathes she can feel it on the back of her neck, in the spot behind her left ear, on the pulse point at the side of her throat. He’s warm and he smells like sweat and spice, and she breathes him in because they haven’t had as many excuses to be as close as they like lately and she takes what she can get.

“Please don’t drive us straight into the tree.” he says low and soft into her ear. 

“I won’t.” She reassures, grabbing the ropes with both hands as he uses his to push them over the edge, before wrapping both arms around her middle and tucking his chin into the side of her neck. 

They fly down the smooth snow and her heart is beating in her chest but she’s pretty sure it’s only partly because of how fast they're going. His arms tighten around her every time they hit a bump and she can hear him howling in her ear the entire way down, pulling her off her center and causing her to fall sideways into the snow once they slide to a stop. Still keeping her wrapped in his embrace as she lays giggling in the snow, she can feel his smile on the back of her neck. 

They go down enough times to where his warm body isn’t enough to keep her from shivering and the lactic acid in her thighs makes climbing back up tougher each run. They call it a day then, with the ends of her hair damp and his cheeks bright red, he doesn’t pull her on the sled back but they take turns singing cliche Christmas songs the entire walk to his parents house. 

 

It’s gotten late enough that the sun has set and Christmas lights are beginning to turn on, he has this affinity for the laser pointer ones that only need a flat surface to project on and a power supply, while she gazes at the perfect rows of vanilla bulbs on roof tops, and fir trees. 

She’s always thought he looked prettiest in the golden glow of the afternoon, when the light shines off his eyes and turns them into pools of honey and spice. She links her arm with his, not because she’s cold, and matches her footsteps to his, left feet stepping in perfect time together and show cracking under their boots. 

 

A smile breaks out on his face when they walk down the street to his parents house and the driveway is full of cars. “Family’s here.” He says tapping the side of his head with hers. 

 

They go in through the garage because though is mother is one of the most laid back people in the world but they still can’t track snow all over her front mat. 

She’s greeted with warm smiles and warmer hugs because his family’s fondness for her still hasn’t changed. They still love her like one of their own, ask her about her day and press kisses to her cheeks. They’re her second family, loud and emotional, and happy and bright with love tucked into every corner. Her closeness with them doesn’t waver. 

His nieces braid her hair in messy plaits while she reads stories to them and it feels natural. It’s not odd to anyone in the room that she’s such a pivotal part in their children’s lives, she’s been around for 21 years and she’ll be around for 21 more. 

 

It’s not long before his mother makes them both hot chocolate while they sit at the counter, hands intertwined with her head on his shoulder. She remembers being 13 and sitting in the same spot, 11 with cherry popsicles smeared over her cheeks and scrapes on her knees. He sneaks extra marshmallows into her cup because he knows her better than anyone still, takes her candy cane because he’s familiar with the fact that she doesn’t like mint and tosses her a jolly rancher from the cupboard. 

“When you brush your teeth do you use children’s toothpaste? Y'know with your aversion to mint and everything. Do you like the kind that tastes like strawberry?” He teases. She knows that he knows the answer, he’s spent the night in her bed before. 

“Shut up.” She says, smiling into her cup because they’re only allowed to say those types of things off the ice.

They transfer to one of the couches because someone decided they wanted to watch a Christmas movie and everything that family does, they do together. It’s with his niece in her lap, and her side pressed against his, and his arm around her shoulders and her mug halfway to her lips that she has a single thought. 

_We’re going to be just fine._

And they are

**Author's Note:**

> @buisnesspartners on tumblr unfortunately. Express your concern for my inability to use commas and capital letters there.
> 
> I didn’t edit this at all cause proper spelling and grammar is #lame


End file.
